‘Increments’ too slow for statehood supporters

Some folks want all or nothing — and they want it right now.Gail Dixon, a member of the D.C. Statehood Green Party for more than 20 years, is not impressed with incremental steps toward empowerment.

“I’m old enough to remember when [whites] told black folks that you had to wait to use the water fountain after they let you walk on the same side of the sidewalk. That’s increments,” she says.

Although the majority, including the mayor and the D.C. Council, praised Rep. Thomas M. Davis III, Virginia Republican, for introducing legislation this week that would grant the District a vote in one chamber of the nation’s bicameral legislature, Ms. Dixon shrugs off the proposal, calling it “that stupid thing.”

The D.C. Fairness in Representation Act would allow the District’s congressional delegate to vote in the House in exchange for Utah’s being granted an additional, temporary seat.

“[The Davis bill] is another end run around what we want, and [Mr. Davis] could care less about us,” Ms. Dixon says. “If he truly wanted the District to have the equality that it should, then he’d put [a bill] forth that states this is the democratic, American way.”

To critics who contend that the District is not big enough to be a state, Ms. Dixon says: “Look at Connecticut or Rhode Island: They’re as big as a postage stamp.”

I always say if you’re going to take the time and energy to take on a project, do it right the first time.

Some supporters of Mr. Davis’ measure, such as DCVote, believe that something is better than nothing — for now. And, half-stepping is better than standing still.

“There is a history of empowerment in increments,” civil rights stalwart Lawrence Guyot says.

He refers to Frederick Douglass’ defense of the 15th Amendment that granted black men the right to vote but not American women.

Ms. Dixon wants no part of that “crawl before you walk” cliche.

“We need to storm the streets and storm the Hill and say, ‘We’re not going to take this lying down anymore,’” Ms. Dixon says.

However, she sadly acknowledges that those in her camp need more numbers to make a louder case. “People are afraid to [fight] alone. The masses are not energized and they are scared.”

Ms. Dixon is a devotee of the late Julius Hobson, founder of the D.C. Statehood Party, who vehemently warned that the limited 1973 D.C. Home Rule charter was deficient and defective. “Home fool, not home rule” was his oft-spoken slogan.

Mr. Hobson could foresee the inherent hypocrisy in a shadow government structure that provided provisional local empowerment by heavy-handed congressional overseers.

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